I confess, I didn't really understand what this strip was doing until I read the posts in this thread. I initially thought that maybe we were being shown both the "real" world and the "mirror" world, one where a bedevilled man was having sex with a human girl, and the other where his human counterpart was having sex with a devil girl... but normally Tats is much more explicit when he moves between the two. The idea that devilry can be transferred in this way didn't even occur to me, but now, I understand what a powerful metaphor Tats has employed to show a sexual double standard at work. I particularly like (and by "like" I mean "find utterly heart-rending") the simple parallel of those neon signs in the first and last panels: NEW and TOP QUALITY vs. USED and CHEAP.

Bravo, Tats, for an extremely well-executed Sunday strip with a message that hits right where it needs to. I wonder if we'll see these characters appear in the comic again.

1. What is the symbolism of panel 6? The man puts a heart (presumably his) into a payment slot. Is the man giving up his humanity? His soul?

2. Panel 11, the man is revealed to be a devil-man, but his expression is... neutral? Interesting how it doesn't seem to have any malice, unlike what we usually see out of devil-Slick. Is the man unaware of the ramifications of his actions?

3. Panels 16-19. There is smoke or dust on the girl after she emerges from the curtained area, and she coughs. I'm not sure what that's supposed to indicate, but I doubt Tat included it for no reason. What could that symbolize?

Powerful comic. Questions/observations:
3. Panels 16-19. There is smoke or dust on the girl after she emerges from the curtained area, and she coughs. I'm not sure what that's supposed to indicate, but I doubt Tat included it for no reason. What could that symbolize?

The answer to this is in the title. She didn't have sex, she was "bomfed". When Big D "bomfs" girls [in public] you get Devil girls like Pebbles.

For the record, my relatively small number of female partners has moulded my attitude: any woman who chooses to have sex with me should be praised and encouraged, so she chooses to have sex with me again.
This has lead to long relationships, but I suspect even a "booty call" is unlikely to return for a second session if the first ends poorly.

For the record, my relatively small number of female partners has moulded my attitude: any woman who chooses to have sex with me should be praised and encouraged, so she chooses to have sex with me again.
This has lead to long relationships, but I suspect even a "booty call" is unlikely to return for a second session if the first ends poorly.

I don't understand why you would insert this into a thread for a comic depicting prostitution and the double-standard that is society's views on what sex does to people. It seems inappropriate in an unsettling kind of way.

What does praising your girlfriends have to do with it? Why did you phrase it in a way that reminds me of someone talking about training their pet? What do booty calls have to do with it?

Did you just feel like over sharing or something? This was a really poor venue for that._________________Samsally the GrayAce

To give SA_Penguin the benefit of the doubt, it sounds like they're saying women should be celebrated and not scorned for having sex. Samsally is right though. It was worded weirdly in a self-interested way, and it sounded oddly manipulative.

Not that SA_Penguin is manipulative or anything. But for things like this you'll want to choose your words carefully. There are plenty of women who've been used and treated poorly, who will (understandably and rightfully) find it a sensitive topic.

To give SA_Penguin the benefit of the doubt, it sounds like they're saying women should be celebrated and not scorned for having sex. Samsally is right though. It was worded weirdly in a self-interested way, and it sounded oddly manipulative.
Not that SA_Penguin is manipulative or anything. But for things like this you'll want to choose your words carefully. There are plenty of women who've been used and treated poorly, who will (understandably and rightfully) find it a sensitive topic.

On re-reading my note, you're right. As I said way back one page 1, I found this particular comic strip disturbing - I was trying to explain WHY is had had such an effect.
The idea that you should deliberately treat someone poorly is... odd. but it happens. To do it to someone because they had sex - is strange to me.

On an intellectual level I can see someone, ashamed of their own sexuality, projecting that shame on those they find desirable. I just can't connect to such behaviour on an emotional level.

1. What is the symbolism of panel 6? The man puts a heart (presumably his) into a payment slot. Is the man giving up his humanity? His soul?

2. Panel 11, the man is revealed to be a devil-man, but his expression is... neutral? Interesting how it doesn't seem to have any malice, unlike what we usually see out of devil-Slick. Is the man unaware of the ramifications of his actions?

3. Panels 16-19. There is smoke or dust on the girl after she emerges from the curtained area, and she coughs. I'm not sure what that's supposed to indicate, but I doubt Tat included it for no reason. What could that symbolize?

Well if you take to what using your heart has done in the past, I'd say it's somewhat like a soul. But I think it's more about emotions, and an analogy for what society tells men to do to get sex. This means entering a relationship and being nice in order to get sex, not in order to be in a relationship. And then the transference of sin that others here have mentioned happens. The object is for men to have sex and women to stay pure but both can't happen at the same time unless everyone is totes gay._________________- explanation of feminism -

The object is for men to have sex and women to stay pure but both can't happen at the same time unless everyone is totes gay.

Only if the women stay virgins... so maybe men are totes gay and women are all asexual? Then our gender stereotypes about appropriate sexual behavior work! YAY!_________________"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. Iíll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman